Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem Awakening.

A change of pace before we return to more pokemon. Second generation replacement comes after that.

This chapter is me testing the waters with giving other characters quirks. I have plans for a quirkverse at some point; I'll probably put a few chapters on this collection, but I think I'll actually be restarting Merely Shepherds as a quirkverse story. Eventually, not anytime soon. I already have three ongoing stories (this one, The Robin Variable, and Five Stars) so a fourth would be overkill.

Oh, and this chapter is not part of the quirkverse. I have something entirely different in mind for the royal family for the main quirkverse, so this is an AU of an AU that doesn't exist yet I guess.

Writing from the perspective of the succubus is difficult as hell. This would have been so much easier from Laurent's POV, but then this would basically be the same as the Succubus Robin chapter from The Robin Variable.


"Laurent, are you still up?" Lucina asks quietly, standing at the entrance of the boy's tent.

There's a faint rustle of paper and the sound of a chair moving. The red-haired mage opens the flap a moment later. He blinks rapidly when he notices her hood is down, exposing her usually hidden face to the world. "Y-Yes, I am. Have you need of something?"

"It's late Laurent." She admonishes, but steps inside the tent (much to Laurent's surprise). "What's keeping you up this time?"

Laurent's tent is much more cluttered than the rest of the tents. It doubles as the supply tent, and if filled with a large number of small bags and extra weapons. His notebooks are piled under the wooden plank he's using as a writing surface, and his bedroll isn't even laid out yet despite the late hour. Lucina would bet he's been working non-stop since they got here and refused to spare even a second to set it up.

"Just a routine inspection of supplies." The boy mutters, sitting down at his makeshift desk.

"A routine inspection shouldn't keep you up well into the night." Lucina scolds.

"Yet it does." The mage sighs. "It shouldn't be much longer though. I'm almost finished. Don't worry about me your Highness."

"But I must." She insists. "Can I help somehow?"

Laurent hesitates, but gives in. "If you wouldn't mind counting our rations…"

"Of course!"

The two work in relative silence for a few minutes. Laurent checks between two sheets, figuring out how much they've lost and gained of various supplies as Lucina checks their rations.

"Ten days worth if we're eating the bare minimum." She reports. "These apples are going to go bad soon, we should eat them tomorrow."

"Noted. Thank you your Highness." He murmurs, scribbling the amount down. "Well, that's all for tonight. You really should go to sleep Milady."

"So I should." Lucina says. She subtly takes off her gloves behind her back. "I have a problem though."

"And what is that?" Laurent asks, risking a glance at her face. Lucina doesn't pass up the opportunity and locks eyes with him. She puts a bit of magic into her gaze, making it hard (harder than usual anyways) for him to look away.

"I'm hungry." She whispers. The boy's eyes widen in confusion. His expression turns to panic when she reaches out towards him. "And you're easy prey."

The boy stands in a hurry, but Lucina is only a step away and grabs his wrists. She pulls him against her body and forces her mouth on his. Calling on her innate magic she pushes a sleep spell into his body, and over the next minute the boy slowly stops fighting as his eyes droop closed.

Not even the most powerful mage or warrior in the world can resist the spells of a succubus once they have intimate physical contact. A kiss isn't the most potent, but it's more than enough to overcome Laurent's resistance.

Lucina sits cross-legged on the floor, letting the boy slump against her. She wraps her arms around his waist and his shoulders to make sure the sleeping boy doesn't fall over.

If you told Lucina that forcing her teammate into unconsciousness and then kissing his sleeping form was creepy, she wouldn't disagree. She hates doing this but all the villages they've come across this week have been abandoned. It's either feed from one of her teammates or starve to death, and that's not really a choice.

Feeding is always a bit surreal for Lucina. She never feels quite like herself during both the act itself and the lead up to it. She has to pull on deceptive and seductive skills she feels shame to even know much less use, and the feeding itself is a conflicting mess of self-disgust and pleasure: the pleasure of a good meal, but the disgust of feeding from someone innocent and especially a friend.

She'd much rather drain a bandit. Then she wouldn't have to feel guilty about the exhaustion or confusion that follows from the draining and subsequent memory wipe… or she can just kill the bandit. That works too.

The princess has to admit her friends taste a lot better than bandits though. If she remembers her mother's notes correctly taste depends on the health of the individual you're feeding from. The healthier someone is the better they taste.

Lucina wonders how Laurent would react if she told him he's tasty. She quickly decides against it.

###

"Yon portal is open, onwards to salvation my friends!" Owain cries, rallying the team. Lucina has to admit that for once he looks properly heroic, standing on the broken column with his sword pointing towards the glowing blue portal. "We shall not fall today! If this world cannot be saved, then to another we will bring our warnings! Let not the memory of our world fall here with us!"

Their team makes a mad push for the portal. Noire stands next to it already, firing a constant stream of arrows from her to cover her teammates. Her face contorts into a fierce snarl as she shouts "Vengeance!" and obliterates a great knight pursuing Yarne with an arrow wreathed in black magic.

"Come on Sev, this isn't the end yet." Inigo grunts, carrying an injured and unconscious Severa on his back. The girl's skin is waxy and pale, the result of Nosferatu draining. Kjelle marches just behind them and swings her silver lance in wide arcs to keep the pursuing Risen at bay.

"For Ylisse!" Cynthia shouts, diving at a sorcerer in the backline. She swoops fearlessly down into the mass of Risen to pick off the dangerous caster with a quick jab of her lance.

"ROOAH!" Minerva shrieks. The wyvern brutally rips an axeman in half with her teeth while still positioned over the curled form of Gerome. Brady is by his side keeping a careful eye on the raging wyvern while healing the boy's wounds.

Nah and Laurent rain down fire on the Risen from a distance. The mage is burning through his tome rapidly in attempt to give his friends the opening they need to get to the portal, and the dragon is exhausting herself belting out fireballs long past the point she's fit to do so.

Lucina is on the frontlines herself. Falchion sings in her hands as she cuts through Risen heroes, generals, and berserkers. Grima has sent her very best against the princess's small team, but still they survive. It's as Owain said: they will not fall today.

Gerome is the first one through, carried by his faithful wyvern. Brady stays near the portal to heal those coming through. Laurent is the next one to pass through the blue light, his tome is totally empty. Everyone else converges on Severa, and when the unconcious girl is carried through the portal by Inigo the rest of the team follows quickly.

Lucina is the last through. She wishes she had some defiant words to shout as she escapes, but none come to mind. Instead she spits at the hoard of Risen and dives into the portal.

It's like nothing she's ever felt before. Travel through the portal feels like a dream, or perhaps a hallucination. She sees glimpses of her friends and Risen alike in the flowing blue streams of magic, but no matter what she does the princess can't reach them. Sometimes she feels like she's so close to her friends but their fingers never touch.

Then suddenly it stops. She's lying on her back, looking up at the sky. There's so many things she could be doing, but all Lucina can do is marvel at the glowing, bright, blue sky.

###

Being captured by bandits was not the plan. Granted, there wasn't much of a plan in the first place, but getting captured certainly wasn't part of it.

"Keep moving bitch." The man holding her manacles growls. "I'm not carrying you."

Lucina trudges on. This long walk is nothing to a girl who's spent half her life on the run, and she knows the bandit is bothering her only to make himself feel better.

She wishes she could keep her hood up right now, but for once being a succubus has come in handy. Lucina's unnatural beauty is probably what's keeping her alive right now. Among her friends the fact that merely exposing her skin is distracting would be a problem, the fact that her voice can calm the emotions of others risks giving away her heritage, and her arousing touch causes far more trouble than it's worth… but among these vile men all those qualities are helpful. Those abilities she can't shut off and has grown to hate are, for once in her life, useful.

But now is not the time to overdo it. Her mother's words ring in her head. "When captured, be patient, form a plan, and when the time comes don't hold anything back."

###

Lucina knows what his intentions are when she's dragged into the tent with him alone, and she's

thankful that she'll be able to stop him long before he actually does anything to her. It would be helpful if her gloves were off but she can work with this.

"So girlie." The grizzled man says, gripping her by the collar with his grimy fingers. He leers at her through an unclean beard. "You've killed six of me men, and you know how you're going to pay me back?"

She won't give him the satisfaction of her saying it. She stays silent, keeping eye contact so her magic can take effect. The princess steadily pushes more and more magic into her gaze, building it slowly so he doesn't feel a sudden spike in power.

The effect isn't too noticeable, but when the man temporarily forgets what he was talking about while staring at her Lucina knows her influence has taken hold. Time to push the advantage.

"You won't get anything from me." Lucina says. She's well aware how painfully generic her refusal is, but it isn't the words that matter. What's important is how she angles her body: she thrusts her head forwards to glare at him, baiting him into grabbing her by the chin or trying to claim her mouth.

He does the latter and seals his death. Despite how disgusting he tastes it's probably for the best it happened this way. A kiss means he can't cry out for help. The princess feels morbid satisfaction when the man's eyes widen in realization. He tries to pull away, but there's no escaping a succubus once you've got their lips on you even if they're bound and chained.

Usually she'd inflict paralysis or sleep right now, but she needs to get out of these restraints. Better to just flood him with seduction magic so he'll listen to commands.

Lucina honestly never thought the day would come when she would use her abilities to mind control someone, but here she is. There's a lot less actual seduction in succubus mind control than you'd think (which is just as well, Lucina sucks at actual seduction unlike her mother). All that's really required is touch so you can overwhelm the target with magic. As with all succubus magic the more intimate your physical contact, the more potent your magic will be.

"Now…" Lucina murmurs, pulling her mouth away and grimacing at the taste. "Would you mind getting these bindings off me?"

"O-Of course." The man stammers. His former leer is totally gone, replaced with an almost pleading look. He scrambles to undo the tight cloth knots and Lucina is free within the minute.

So what now? She's still in the center of a bandit camp. "My sword?"

"H-Here Milady." The man grovels, pulling it out from under his mattress. The princess pulls out the blade and inspects it, and notes thankfully that it hasn't been marred.

"Good..." Lucina mutters. "What's the closest village to here?"

"Southtown Milady."

Southtown? That's where father first met mother in her world. If what Naga told them is true then they should be almost at that point in time in this world. She needs to be around to prevent aunt Emmeryn's assassination, but aside from that she shouldn't need to interact with the Shepherds all that much. Lucina wants to find her friends anyways.

So she'll follow the Shepherds until the assassination is prevented, and then gather her friends to stop Grima from ever rising.

"Thank you sir." Lucina says, more out of habit than any actual feeling of goodwill. "Your assistance is no longer needed."

"Do I get a reward Milady?" The man asks, and the princess shudders. Of course, she's his master right now. Gods that's unnerving.

"Yes." She says, beckoning him towards her. The princess does need to feed after all, and there's no need to let this man live to harass others.

###

"Lucina!" Laurent calls, pushing through the crowd towards her His wide-brimmed hat makes him easy to spot even among all the people.

The princess blinks in shock. She wasn't expecting to see one of her friends so soon, the assassination hasn't even happened yet! It's a struggle to maintain her composure and not rush towards the boy. As soon as he's in arms reach she grabs him and pulls him to the side of the street.

"Laurent! I didn't expect to find one of our friends so quickly." Lucina says happily.

"Quickly?" The boy says, confused. "Lucina, how long has it been since you exited the portal?"

"A month? Give or take a few days, I got captured by bandits for a bit and stopped counting."

"I-I see... well, for myself it's been two years." The boy says quietly. "I'm glad to finally see a friendly face."

"Two years?" Lucina gasps. "That's quite a while, are you alright?"

"It took a while to make my way to Ylisstol." He admits. "Half a year. I had the misfortune off appearing in the middle of Ylisse's desert to the east of here."

"And you've been staying in Ylisstol since then?"

"Yes." He nods. "I have even seen my mother on occasion though I'm yet to make contact. I wasn't sure what your plan was exactly, so I refrained from revealing myself."

"Good." The princess says. "The more we change the timeline, the less we can predict. I plan on revealing myself to prevent the assassination, and then leaving the Shepherds to their own devices while I, we, locate the rest of our friends."

"I can't argue. It's more of a plan than I had." The mage admits. "For now though, how long do we have until the assassination?"

"I'd guess a month." The girl says. She glances around at the crowded street. "Maybe we should take this inside?"

"Of course. Follow me, I have a room."

###

"You're older than me now, aren't you?" Lucina points out. "You were only a year younger than me, so with the two year gap you're a year older now."

"I suppose I am." The mage nods. "It doesn't feel like I am though."

"How not?"

"You are still my leader, my liege, and have always been the most mature of any of us. A mere two year gap does not seem to have diminished that. In a mere month you have developed a plan, whereas I had none for two years." He murmurs. "Perhaps in body you are not older, but in mind there can be no doubt."

Lucina meant for her comment to be a simple observation, not a cause for serious discussion, but she can hardly let this lie. "Laurent, don't be absurd. I may not have mentioned it, but you are the model I based myself on. It is your composure that I try to emulate."

"You flatter me."

"Not so. I lack all skill for the insincere. I speak only the truth." Lucina responds firmly.

"Ah." That single word and the minor shuffling of his feet is probably the closest Lucina has ever seen Laurent to being embarrassed. He's totally unflappable, and that is why the princess looks up to him.

The two of them are sitting in his room in the inn. It's small but clean, with a desk in the corner that is covered with books and papers set in neat piles. Lucina is sitting on the bed while Laurent has taken the desk chair.

"Laurent. I have a question."

"Yes Milady?"

"How much does a room like this cost for a month?"

"Twenty gold. Why?"

"Ah." The girl grimaces. "Well, I could rent a room for one month..."

"You don't have a job." It's not a question, it's a statement.

"No, I do not. I have only what I took from the bandits."

"Well, in the interest of not wasting what little money we have, it may be prudent if you stay here with me." Laurent offers. "I have employment as a scribe at the royal library so I can pay for the room. You have more pressing duties to attend to, correct?"

"Erm... not quite." Lucina admits. "Until the assassination is due to happen, there is little for me to do."

"Well, be that as it may, I'm sure you can find something important to do." The mage says with absolute conviction. "I have full confidence in you Milady."

The princess smiles (not that Laurent can see it with her hood up, but still). "Well, with that vote of confidence I can hardly let you down. I'll be sure to find something then."

The rest of the afternoon is spent with Laurent recounting what has happened to him over the last two years. It's a lot of walking, doing odd jobs, and a few nights spent sleeping in the forest after escaping the desert. Foraging for food rather than buying it is also a common theme, he didn't have more than pocket change upon going through the portal.

The last thing they do for the day is discuss sleeping arrangements. Laurent, with his usual consideration for others, tries to insist that she take the bed but Lucina refuses to hear it. If she's not paying for anything, there's no way she's going to take the bed.

###

Laurent tries not to let it show, but his liege's unnatural allure is very distracting now that he spends so much time in close quarters with her. Lucina has always had strange powers that draw others to her: her voice calms the emotions of others around her, a touch is a surefire way to make someone weak in the knees, and looking at an exposed part of her body for too long (even something like her hair) can put you into a daze.

The mage is no fool, he knows that's magic of some sort. He also knows that Lucina is aware of her own powers because she covers herself entirely and avoids physical contact even with her gloves on. Speech is something she can't really avoid doing, but the calming effects are minor anyways.

Still, Laurent has a few guesses as to what this all means. He's long since resigned himself to never asking her, it's not his place to pry, but it does mean he's eternally guessing and trying to puzzle out what her powers are the result of. He doubts she learned to use this magic; permanent manipulative spells don't seem her style. That leaves the other option of this magic being innate, something she can't control... which means she's probably not human.

Sirens, harpies, merpeople, succubi, alraunes, some variants of lamia and undead, nymphs, powerful angels... all of those have some degree of inborn manipulative magic that match the description of Lucina's powers. Granted some of those (harpies, merpeople, alraunes, lamias, undead, angels) are extremely unlikely due to Lucina lacking their distinctive physical features.

There are also probably other beings that Larent is either forgetting or has never heard about. The number of humanly intelligent species in existence are frankly absurd. But from what he's aware Lucina is likely a siren, succubus, or nymph.

One of those is a lot more problematic than others. Sirens and nymphs are basically just human with a few extra abilities. Succubi on the other hand have an incredible array of abilities and have much more potent abilities, but have the drawback of needing to feed.

Laurent is thinking all this through because Lucina has decided she's comfortable enough to keep her hood off in the room, which is problematic for him in that he can't look directly at her anymore. Conversations with his liege now involve him staring at the wall beside her head as they talk.

Sometimes he wonders if it frustrates her to not be able to look anyone in the eye.

###

Lucina couldn't tell herself why she's watching Laurent sleep. Feeding from sixteen bandits in one night a week ago filled her up for a while, yet she still finds herself staring at his sleeping form with hunger in her stomach.

Maybe feeding from a lot of people doesn't mean she'll have to feed any less the next time? Maybe she needs to go out and feed from someone else? It's worth a try. She exits the room quietly and makes her way down the stairs... but the feeling is gone. She's full.

What's going on with her?

###

Hopefully Panne will show up. Over the last month she managed to get in touch with the Taugel, and she just has to hope the reclusive lady is willing to believe her. Laurent's work thankfully ended an hour ago so he's here as well.

The mage hides in the trees as Lucina steps out to speak to her mother and father. She makes sure her hood is well over her face, any exposed skin might give away her succubus nature and by extent imply a relationship to her mother long before her infant self is alive. That would be messy.

"Prince Chrom." Lucina says, stepping out of the bushes. The prince whirls around in surprise and the hooded tactician by his side subtly reaches for her tome. "I come with a warning."

"Who are you?" The prince asks.

"A messenger. Your Exalt is in grave danger." From the corner of her eye she sees Laurent giving her a signal, he's pointing to a bush a few feet to her left. She nods her head towards the same bush. "From assassins like him."

The assassin, realizing he's been exposed, lunges out form the bush with his sword drawn. It's simple to cut him down halfway through his desperate charge. The second assassin is a surprise. Thankfully Laurent is more observant than her and shoots him down with a well-placed blast of fire.

"I hope that's enough proof for you?" Lucina asks somewhat sarcastically.

"Y-Yeah." The prince nods. "Let's get going."

###

It was an innocuous gesture: he offered her one of the apples he'd packed for the trip, but Lucina noticed how inordinately happy she felt after accepting one. She felt warm and a bit giddy, and when she glanced back over at the mage she was struck by the desire to hug him.

She doesn't of course. The princess is well aware of the potential consequences, even with her gloves on an intimate act like that would probably put him under the influence of her innate magic (albeit minorly) which would be manipulative.

The princess never really thought about romance before, but now that she has she feels disappointed that she can't even show interest in someone without worrying about her powers. Her newfound and unexpected interest will just have to be ignored. It's not the first time Lucina has suppressed a desire and it won't be the last.

Absently, she wonders how her mother dealt with this. Somehow she married her father, and Lucina has faith that her mother didn't flagrantly manipulate him into marriage.

###

"Rejoice my companions! Cynthia, the winged hero of Ylisse, has returned to us! Finally we are whole again!" Owain shouts, raising his cup in the air.

Despite being in a pub none of them are having beer. They're all too conscious of the negative effects it has on combat capability to ever drink some. A toast with water isn't quite as fitting, but it's enough for Owain.

The other patrons of the tavern probably wouldn't believe it if they were told Owain wasn't already drunk.

"And of course we all have our brave leader to thank!" The myrmidon says with a flourish of his hand. "The hooded princess, braving forest, frost, and... desert."

"Nice one Owain." Severa snorts.

"Shut up, I ran out of words that start with f." Owain mutters from the corner of his mouth. He clears his throat and continues. "She who braved the dangers of the world to help her friends! We owe you, dear cousin, our eternal gratitude."

The boy bows deeply, and Lucina flushes a bit at the praise. When the others actually clap she pulls her hood down as far as it can go to try and hide her embarrassment.

###

"So wait, all of you are children of the Shepherds?" Chrom asks incredulously.

"Well... yes." Lucina coughs. She wan't planning on revealing that so soon, but accidentally yelling "father!" while blocking a sword strike for him forced her hand.

Her mistake.

"And you are my daughter."

"Yes."

Chrom stares for a moment, scrutinizing her, but a big smile crosses his face soon after. "I can see the resemblance to us both."

"Really?"

"Of course. You have my hair, not to mention the brand..." He murmurs, running his fingers through her long hair. "You have your mother's beauty, not to mention sense of restraint."

"Pardon?"

"You wear gloves and hide your face just like your mother." He chuckles. "You detriment yourself just to avoid accidentally influencing others. If that's not restraint I'm not sure what is."

Lucina doesn't think of it as restraint. Hiding her abilities is necessary, showing herself is doing evil by letting her magic manipulate those she cares about. "If you say so Father."

"Father..."

"Do you wish I not call you that?" She asks hesitantly.

"No, no, it's nice. It will just take a little getting used to."

###

"Mother, I have a question." Lucina says nervously.

"What is it dear?" The silver-haired tactician asks. They both have their hoods off, enjoying a private meal in Robin's tent. Neither of them feel the the innate attraction that usually results from gazing upon a succubus's face, so it would seem that they are immune to each other's powers.

The princess isn't sure how her mother will react to such a personal question, and Lucina isn't exactly comfortable talking about romance, but she needs to know the answer to this. "How did you court Father without manipulating him?"

The lady pauses, looking surprised. "Come again?"

"How did you work around your powers when pursuing a relationship?" Lucina rephrases. "How did you two court each other without your innate powers influencing the outcome."

Robin's eyes light up in understanding. "Ahh, I see. You're interested in someone aren't you?"

The princess flushes brightly. She never said anything about that! How did Mother know!? "Wh-Wha-"

"It's rather obvious dear." The lady smiles. "Why else would you ask about how my powers influenced us and not the story of our marriage itself?"

Lucina shakes her head. "You're amazing Mother."

The tactician chuckles. "So, you want to know the secret of managing our powers in a relationship hmm? Well here's my secret."

Lucina leans in eagerly.

"I didn't even think about my powers." Robin says simply.

The princess stares in shock. There's no way she's telling the truth. "Not at all?!"

"Well, I did at first." She admits. "If you don't know them at all I would advise first getting to know them with full concealment, but I'm assuming this is someone you're already familiar with?

Lucina nods.

"Let me be frank dear. If you're hoping for some way to nullify your powers, or hoping your partner will develop a resistance, that won't happen." Robin says bluntly. "Your powers will remain as potent as ever."

The princess's shoulders sag. That's not at all what she hoped to hear.

"The good part is that they don't need to go away." The lady winks. "If you've already got a good relationship then there's no need to worry. Don't abuse your abilities, but don't intentionally hide them either. As much as you might think you have to be careful you really don't. Those powers are a part of you, like it or not, so it's best any potential partner get used to them sooner than later."

The tactician leans forwards with a teasing grin.

"And besides, them being particularly attracted to you isn't a bad thing. I, for one, think it's cute how my husband still loses his train of thought just because I smile at him, or that I can still make him tremble with a touch."

"Mother! I don't need to hear that!" Lucina groans in embarrassment.

"But you did." Robin shoots back, her expression surprisingly serious. "If I didn't tell you the upsides, you'd always think of your powers as a negative thing. Your powers are what you make of them. Keep in mind your influence, yes, but if you never relax your self-imposed restraints you'll never live. You'll exist in a prison of your own making. Influencing others isn't always a bad thing dear. Public speaking is influencing others and it's far from immoral. Use your judgement dear, and trust yourself. I certainly trust you to use your powers well."

"That's because you're my mother."

"Maybe, but it's true all the same."

There's a moment of silence as Lucina takes it all in. Robin calmly takes a sip of her drink, watching her daughter with faint pride. She's very mature for someone who's not even a full adult yet. Only seventeen and she has more sense than some of the current Shepherds.

Well, maybe it's not fair to compare her to Gaius. That man is a child in all but appearance.

"Another question." The blue-haired girl says quietly. "Feeding. What am I supposed to do about it?"

"What do you mean?"

"I... I try to feed from people I don't know." She says slowly, trying to arrange her thoughts. "Bandits if possible, if not then villagers. If there's a drunk I'll feed from them, they won't even notice the extra exhaustion."

Robin nods in agreement. She remembers her own days of feeding off random drunks in the streets. "They taste awful."

"I know." Lucina grimaces. "Erm... but is that the right thing to do? I don't like the thought of feeding off someone innocent."

"It's not like there's much of a choice dear." The tactician reminds her. "In fact, I'd consider it a good thing for there to not always be a criminal in arms reach."

"But feeding off someone who doesn't deserve it just feels... wrong."

"Until you have someone to feed from who knows who you are, there isn't really a good choice." Robin admits reluctantly. "All you can do is minimize the damage of your feedings. I too fed off drunks for while, and when I was finally forced to feed on a friend I chose your father."

"Why?"

"Because he was the easiest to get alone." Robin sighs. "It was a practical choice, not a moral or emotional one. But even if I could chose based on emotion I'd have chosen him anyways. If I have to kiss a friend, I'd rather it be someone I like."

"But you're basically assaulting him."

"True, but it's either that or die, and I'd like to think my best friend wouldn't hate me for wanting to live. Besides, it's hardly unpleasant for them, especially if you add a bit of extra magic."

###

So she just takes off her hood right? Don't make a big deal about it, she should just do it as she walks in.

Gods this reminds her of feeding. She's always walked in without her hood on when she planned on feeding from him. Except this time she isn't going to do that, so it'll be the first time he actually remembers seeing her without her hood on for any extended period of time.

Lucina is more nervous then she should be, they're just doing inventory! This isn't even something serious, she's not proposing she's just walking into a tent!

"Stop thinking about it, you'll only make this worse." The princess scolds herself. "Walk in, pull your hood down, do your job, leave. Don't make a big deal about it. It's just a hood."

She does not feel convinced whatsoever, but that's enough of a pep talk to get herself to walk in the damn tent. She glances around quickly to make sure no one else is there but Laurent, and there isn't, so she nervously pulls off her hood and makes her way over to him.

"Starting without me I see." She says calmly as she can.

"Apologies my liege, but I figured both of us would appreciate getting this finished as soon as possible." The mage says. He doesn't look away from the swords he's inspecting. "If you wouldn't mind counting the provisions and then the training weapons, I'd be much obliged."

Lucina isn't sure if she's relieved or disappointed that he doesn't look away from his work. Still, she has a job to do. She picks up her own paper and quill and starts counting the items he pointed her to.

It takes a dozen minutes or so to count everything. Most of Lucina's time is spent on the food figuring out how much of each different thing they have. In the end the only thing she concludes is that they probably need more fruits (which she notes in the margins of the report).

"I'm finished!" She calls.

"As am I." The mage mutters, jotting down a number of small notes. He finally turns to face her, but he barely reacts to seeing her without her hood up. The only indication of his surprise is that he blinks twice in rapid succession before quickly moving his eyes to focus on a spot just to the side of her head.

He's unflappable. That's why she looked up to him after all.

"I'll bring these to the quartermaster." Laurent says, accepting the sheet of paper from Lucina. He gives a small bow and says. "Good day Milady." Before walking away.

Lucina shouldn't feel giddy over a small success like this, but she does. It went well, he didn't question her, it's a start.

It's a tiny step in the grand scheme of things, but compared to the constant self-restraint she imposed on herself before she may as well have jumped a chasm by doing this. She feels just as accomplished.

It will be nice to eventually share her secret with someone she cares about... but not yet. That can come in time. For now she looks forward to finally being able to act on her crush without thinking badly of herself for doing so...

...just as soon as she figures out how this whole 'courting' thing works. There wasn't exactly time for it back in her world. Maybe Mother can help with that too.


Stopping here or else this will go on for another several thousand words. This chapter is already 6004 to begin with.

For future uses of succubi I'm probably going to tone them down a bit. Both this chapter and Succubus Robin have showcased the absurdly powerful variant of succubi, but they lend themselves to rather narrow storytelling with having to constantly hide themselves. If I use succubi again I think I'll limit their innate abilities to not be so overwhelming but still present. After all the fact that they seduce everyone around them is part of the fun of writing them, I can't get rid of that entirely!


Mram99: Oh I'm not done with Pokemon Fire Emblem yet. That's getting finished before the second generation replacement happens.

Darkness is complete: Filed under ideas for The Robin Variable.

Invisible Prince: Believe it or not I already had plans for a quirk AU story. That's the 'quirkverse' I mentioned in the author's note.

I love playing around with size, I'll remember these.

Ren: So would I, but I think the story is good as it is. If someone has an idea for a continuation they're more than welcome to write it, but I think I have done what I can with that idea.